Pete: The Story of Peter V. Cacchione, New York's First Communist Councilman

public ridicule and evoked a song at the Inner Circle show, a production
put on by City Hall reporters and other political writers. The perceptive
parody, sung to the tune of the then popular "Betty Co-ed," went:

Tammany Hall's a patriotic outfit,
Tammany Hall's an old society.
Fourth of July they wave the flag, boys,
But never will they waive immunity.

Tammany Hall like Robin Hood professes
To take from the rich to give to the poor
But Tammany Hall gets just a bit confused sometimes
And takes from both to give to Tammany Hall.

Seabury had more success with Tom Farley, sheriff of New York
County, a Tammany Hall sachem and president of the Thomas M. Farley
Association, the clubhouse where he held forth as leader of the Fourteenth Assembly District. It was in Farley's testimony before the legislative committee that the "tin box" phrase was born and gave rise to a wave
of hilarity in a city whose mood was generally gloomy. The laughter
rolled out from the county courthouse near City Hall over the country.

Seabury and his staff had done careful preliminary work on Farley's
personal accounts, and discovered that he had accumulated about
$400,000 within six years on a yearly salary of $8,500. If he lived on
nothing and saved every dime of his pay he should have had about
$50,000 to $55,000 in the bank. How come? Seabury, with infinite
courtesy, probed the matter with the bulky sheriff in a classic colloquy.

"Where," asked Seabury, "did you keep these moneys you had
saved?""In a safe-deposit box at home in the house," was the reply.

Farley went on to say that he would put in and withdraw money from
time to time. The colloquy continued:

Q. And, sheriff, was this big box that was safely kept in the big safe, a
tin box or a wooden box?

A. A tin box.

Seabury pressed Farley on the source of his cash supply that went far
beyond his salary.

Print this page

While we understand printed pages are helpful to our users, this limitation is necessary
to help protect our publishers' copyrighted material and prevent its unlawful distribution.
We are sorry for any inconvenience.